Makers · Germany
Carl Zeiss
Founded 1846
Carl Zeiss opened a workshop in Jena in 1846. With the physicist Ernst Abbe and the glass chemist Otto Schott, the firm made lens design a science: lenses were calculated and made from glass of known properties.
Zeiss lenses such as the Tessar (1902) set the standard for photography, and in 1926 Zeiss formed Zeiss Ikon from four camera makers. After the Second World War the company was split between East and West Germany; the two halves were reunited in 1991.